In car washes and other automated washing systems, it is known to have foam generators to mix air and washing or cleaning chemicals to create a foam that may then be sprayed or applied to a surface to be washed. Examples of this sort of system include but are not limited to car washes and other vehicle washing systems.
Conventional approaches to devices that to generate the foam by aerating a cleaning chemical have required fairly complex machinery and these devices have typically required time consuming manual labor. Often, when these devices are installed in commercial or industrial settings, it is desirable to have a device that may be cleaned, maintained and/or repaired in minimal time so as to reduce the cost of downtime required when the device is out of service or not working optimally.
Further, existing conventional foaming devices have not been designed for frequent disassembly and maintenance. Repeated disassembly of these conventional devices may serve to degrade the devices effectiveness and ability to operate as designed.
Current or conventional units are made from mechanical fittings that are not intended to be put together and taken apart over and over again. This disassembly and reassembly process takes over 20 minutes to complete per unit, and requires the disconnecting of any air and chemical lines. To open the unit itself to access the inner element, a user requires various types of wrenches and pliers to perform this task. A type of thread sealant is typically required to reassemble the unit and ensure a watertight assembly.
Conventional foam generators incorporate a filter media that is similar to standard household pot scrubber pads. While these media are cheap and readily available, there are some drawbacks to the use of this media. In conventional foam generators, this media is pushed in the foam chamber with a stick or screwdriver and the unit is then reassembled. In use, the media begins to filter the chemical passing through the media and as it filters objects out of the chemicals, the media can clog and compress down in the direction of the flow of the chemical passing through it. This creates back pressure and reduces the performance of the foam generation and application by reduction of pressure. This also reduces the effectiveness of the filtering due to a reduction of the surface area of the media. Another problem is that results from compressing the media into the chamber it that control over the positioning of the media within the generator is lost. These degradations and loss of effectiveness do vary from one foamer to the next. The inconsistency of the generators has been accounted for by installing valves on the air and chemical lines to control pressures but this had to be set and adjusted on a regular schedule and is always erratic.
The air and chemical lines of conventional foam generators have always been stacked on top of each other and attached to the foam generator at a top of the generator. The chemical wash component used to generate the foam feeds into a first inlet on a tee fitting with a second inlet on the tee fitting providing an attachment point for feeding in the pressurized air needed to operate the foam generator. This approach typically requires a check valve on the chemical side to prevent the chemical wash component from feeding into the air side when the generator starts to become clogged and build back pressure.
Improvements to conventional approaches to making foam generators are desirable to reduce the time required to clean and repair the device. Such improvements may also be useful in reducing the time required to manufacture and assemble these devices.
Within these figures, the following reference characters are used to refer to the following corresponding elements that will be described below:                10 is a foam generator body        12 is a foam generator insert        14 is an outer pipe        16 are couplings        18 is a bushing        20 is an outlet        22 is a resin cast surface        24 is a water inlet        26 is a chemical inlet        28 are elbow fitting holes        30 is a cap        32is a steel rod hole        34 is a steel rod        36 are bio balls        38 are mesh discs        40 is an acorn nut        42 are washers        44 is a cone washer        46 is a rubber seal        48 is a nut        50 is a foam generator        